Date: 22 June
Distance: 40k
Time: 7:52

This is one of those ‘bastard’ events: it is not a marathon distance, but almost, and it is not an official walk-only event as stated on the website, you are allowed to run. Twice (on email and in person) the organiser confirmed that this is a do-what-you-want kind of event. The only issue is that if you run too fast, you might arrive at the aid station before they are set up, as they are timed to cater for the 65km runners.  The latter started an hour earlier than us, some 25km further up the track.

The  unfortunate thing about running at a ‘walking’ event is that other participants who don’t know that this is the case, treat you like a criminal. It is not a sanctioned event and there is no prizes or acknowledgement for participants who placed. It’s just an event. Do what you want, which is fantastic when you’re not super fit, or coming back from injury. The 40km event had 13 hours to finish, while the 65km event had 14 hours.

The 65km trail run is the main event, which we initially wanted to do when we started making plans to go to Perth a couple of months ago, but we soon realised we were in no state to do that. I’ve signed up for ultras when I really shouldn’t have before, and have managed to wing it. In hindsight I was obviously in a better place than is currently the case. I just knew that attempting the 65km was not going to end well.

Apart from the 65km, they included this 40km ‘walk’, a 6km trail run, and a kids dash.

During the week leading up to the event, Gerry attended a conference which ran over three days and four evenings. It started late Monday afternoon, and finished Thursday evening.

As we were staying near the city centre, I didn’t want to drive around on my own, so we decided to walk to and from the University of Western Australia where the conference was held. I opted to sit in the nearby cafeteria and work on my dissertation during the day. This meant that we walked 10km each day, which was better than nothing. There was no time in the day left to go for a run.

On Wednesday night, after the day’s conference proceedings, there was the gala dinner and awards ceremony where Gerry had to take some photos. It was also my birthday, and for the first time in 55 years I was by myself, on the fifth floor of an old block of flats, cooking dinner and having some bubbly. Another first for me – having a drink by myself. I’m definitely much more of a social drinker.

We were hoping to get our mandatory gear checked before the event at the Tribe & Trail shop, which was a 15min drive from our accommodation. Plus we still needed to buy a few things like a ‘specific snake bandage’. We hadn’t even started to think about sustenance for the event.

Tribe & Trail wasn’t open on the Friday, and Gerry was keen to attend the Thursday’s proceedings, so he opted to skip part of the Wednesday afternoon’s talks for us to get the event things sorted. After our gear was checked (our ‘snake’ bandage didn’t pass the test so we had to buy two from the shop at AU$10.50 each), we went for coffee and a huge slice of cake at a nearby beachfront restaurant as a quick birthday celebration.

Friday morning, we did laundry while vacating the flat for the trip to our next accommodation. It was a bit closer (about 2km away) to the event base at the Swan Valley Adventure Centre, and just as well as it took nearly an hour to drive out of the city to the holiday park. I did not envy the local runners who had to make that trip in the morning. Especially the 65km runners who started at 6:30am. Those who took the bus to the start, had to be at the event base at 5:15am. We started an hour later so caught the bus at 6:10am.

After we checked in and settled in our cabin, we went to the nearest supermarket to buy food for the event. I tried to remember what we usually eat on the run, as it has been a while since we’ve run/walked for 8+ hours. It was a bit of a hemming and hawing, backwards and forwards in the shop, but eventually we got a good range of flavours and textures. It is only 40km after all.

We tried to figure out how much to pack in our hydration vests, and how much to put in the drop bag. We opted to have a drop bag at the end of the second leg (the 40km covered the final three legs of the 65km which had five legs), with dry socks, a clean handkerchief and headband, and more food in case needed. Having a gluten intolerance means I can often not eat what’s on offer at the aid stations. We searched through all the jelly sweets in the supermarket, and couldn’t find any that didn’t contain gluten. Ditto for crisps.

A week before the event the weather forecast looked like it might rain all day. During the week the forecast changed to heavy rain in the morning, clearing during the day, with rain again from the late afternoon. We brought rain pants with and I was contemplating wearing them if it was going to be that wet. Wind was also in the forecast, and quite strong to boot also from the afternoon. Someone mentioned somewhere that it was only 4°C the year before (turns out it was only early morning – the sun came out and the day was perfect).

At registration the night before, I couldn’t believe how ‘big’ and sorted the event was. A good assortment of food stuffs were available outside the hall. Even a mobile wood fired pizza cart. The pizzas looked fantastic. People were mulling around, chatting, eating and generally seemed happy and content with life.

We got our race bags with bibs, an event t-shirt and headband, and queued for the GPS trackers. These were quite big and weighed a bit. It was almost like a normal GPS device, with the option of a distress button. Outside the main hall, we waiting by the food carts (very tempting) for the next showing of the welcoming and race briefing video in the hall next door. One of the organisers were present with additional information, and to answer questions. With all the boxes ticked, we went home to cook dinner, have a shower, and try to go to bed early.

During the night/early morning (4am) when I first looked out the door it had started to rain. Admittedly I wasn’t looking forward to spending the whole day in the rain. I had no idea what the terrain would be like or how fast we might be able to move. All I knew was that there were loads of stairs, and the elevation was 1620m for the 40km. Even though that was quite a lot, I still thought it might be comparable with the North Range ultra which had similar elevation, but over a 50k distance (which wasn’t that tough). I guess 10km shorter makes a massive difference to a similar elevation, as this was next level steep, especially given my current state.

As we drove to the event base in the dark before 6am, it rained. Arriving at a almost deserted carpark, apart from runners huddled under a roof to avoid the rain, it was calm, quiet, and not much wind. It was cool, but not super cold. I even decided to leave my small thin down jacket, which is very unusual for me – I always take them as they weigh next to nothing and make a huge difference. I still had two t-shirts (a body hugging second skin, and a normal one), a polypropylene vest (plus a spare in my pack) and my rain jacket. But no gloves and no beanie, as Perth is apparently really not super cold in winter.

The bus arrived on the dot at 6:10am and waited another few minutes for some late comers. The rainy trip to the start at Walyunga Scenic Lookout took a wee while, so we decided to download the GPX file for the course. This was totally unnecessary as the course was marked very well. We arrived shortly before 7am and were dropped off near the lookout in the Avon Valley National Park in the rain (on private land?) by a shed with fires going outside in metal drums. One of these fires were also used shortly before the start for the welcoming and smoking ceremony by the local indigenous Aboriginal people for safe passage. The smell of the smoke was so familiar and comforting, and confirmed why I love sitting outside by a fire so much. I have wonderful memories relating to outside fires, and it always makes me feel at home.

Still raining at 7:30am we were off without much of the typical race fanfare. Judged by the race coverage (and video online), it was a different story for the 65km runners. We were about 50 participants, while the 65km field had 150 runners. Overall not a big event by numbers, but man oh man, it is a huge event. It kicked the arse of big events like Tarawera and UTA in terms of everything, from online entries, registration, gear checking, merchandise, to the actual course, volunteers, aid stations,.and finish line celebrations.

First leg (3rd for the 65km) – 12km, 2:22
Nissen Hut, Paruna Sanctuary

After a 400m walk along a gravel road (which placed us right in front of the pack without much effort), we started following a track going downhill. Halfway down, we had to stop as my shoelace came undone. I was still going to do them up before we started, but was so relaxed I forgot about it. A few of the other participants came past us running, and we decided to followed suit at a very slow pace for very short stints as the terrain just wasn’t conducive to running, for me. Some stairs (muddy and filled with water) took us down to out first creek crossing. And then the climbing started. Heaps of stairs that slowed me down to a snails pace took us to a high point. Only to go straight down again, followed by another straight up and down again. And that was more or less the format of the first leg. Except, after the first set of stairs going up the mountain, the remaining ups and downs looked like we were using fire roads, going straight up and down instead of following a contour or having switchbacks. Since these were very steep both up and down, I found it impossible to run, especially for my current unfit, unconditioned state.

So even though we jogged small bits here and there, I was forced to walk the bulk of the course. All up I doubt that we jogged more than 5km of the 40km.

Needless to say, my legs were completely shattered after the first 12km. I stumbled into the aid station and wasn’t sure how I was actually going to finish the 40km, if things didn’t improve drastically. We checked in, filled one bottle with coke and the other with water, took a mandarin and pear for the road, quickly downed a Red Bull, and were on our way again. The rain finally stopped not long before, and we could take off our rain jackets which were soaked inside and out.

Second leg (4th for the 65km)– 16.5km, 3:10
Valley Camp Ground, AVNP (Avon Valley National Park)

The second leg follows the Avon River and railway line. It is undulating, with a few short sharp ups and downs. This could have been a running leg for the most part, had I been in better condition. My muscles were so buggered that I started to look like I was walking on eggs.

The sun was out, and so was the wind, especially in certain parts of the valley. The first 65km runners started to pass us. We followed a 4WD track, with a short section through a rocky and tree fallen patch, before joining up with the Jeep track again.

Arriving at the aid station, a volunteer brought over our drop bag (drop bags were an option at all the aid stations, and we decided to make use of this one). We still had enough food, but I was keen to swop socks for a thinner pair. My feet were quite swollen and I could feel a black toenail coming on.

I’ve lost my big toenails more times than I care to remember. A friend once told me that you only get seven new ones, and then it won’t grow back again. Haha. I can confirm that he was just pulling my leg. The last time I lost one, was in 2015 at the Tarawera 100k run. It took more than eight years to grow back. It was only last year that it started to look normal again. I knew it wasn’t. It hadn’t grown back all the way to the front and was thicker than it used to be. But it looked ‘normal’. This toe was so swollen that I knew the nail might come off again.

After peeling some mandarins for the road, Gerry had some baking and jelly sour sweets, before we were off on the last leg.

Third leg (5th for the 65km) – 12.5km, 2:20
Finish Cobbler Pool

Shortly after a steep downhill on a muddy 4WD track we started on a 4km relentless uphill. It was more gradual than any of the other uphills, and should be runnable if you’re fit.

But of course, what goes up, must come down, and we were again treated to some very steep downhills followed by more uphills. Worst part was that after the first 4km on the gravel road, we were walking through farmland with no trail. It was cambered and rough in places, and being totally buggered by then didn’t help.

We passed a small aid station for the 6km runners, and took another Red Bull for the last few kilometres. We could hear the finish line celebrations in the distance, and I just wanted it to be over.  Naturally the finish was on an uphill, but I was just glad to have made it in under eight hours.

This is a super tough run, and I’m very glad we didn’t enter the 65km run. Gerry had Covid again some time back, coupled with some other things that derailed our training, so we opted for the walk. How hard can it be? Well, let me tell you, it was ridiculously tough. I did not expect that. Since we walk more than we run the past few months, I thought I should be okay. And was it a flattish marathon on the road, I would have been fine, and might even have managed to finish in under six hours. But the 1632m elevation over 40km took its toll. I was not ready for that, and definitely not used to tough terrain, let alone wearing a hydration vest.

Apart from a handful of pademelons on grassy patches, and some ants, I didn’t seen any other animals. We could hear birds, more in some places than others, and it was obvious a trapping program was in place, judged by all the catch-traps out on the course.

The first bus (which we booked) only arrived ten hours after the 40km start, so we had to wait two hours for it. Initially I thought we would take a shower and hang around enjoying the party at the finish line, but I was too buggered to move. I parked myself in a sunny spot, as it was getting chilly in the final hours of the day, while Gerry collected the complimentary glass of beer. Unfortunately they didn’t have any cider (as promised) so Gerry had both mine and his. He also bought us fries and coffee to try and keep warm.

The drop-bags hadn’t arrived back at the finish line yet, so we had to make another plan to get it. If I had one complaint, or could make one suggestion, it would be to bring back all the used drop-bags in time for the first bus. Instead, they were taking everything back to Tribe & Trail after the event, which wasn’t open on the Sunday or Monday. Since we left for NZ the Monday evening, Gerry had to make special arrangements to collect it from the shop owner’s house.

On the bus taking us back to the event base, the most gorgeous full moon accompanied us. It was dark already and the trip took about an hour and a half. Once back, we went to the nearest Indian for take-aways, still covered in mud and smelling from a distance. Back home, we had a quick shower, poured a glass of wine, and had left-over salad with the curry.

It was my first ‘run’ in a new age group, and one that confirmed I have a lot of work to do in terms of mobility, stretching and strengthening before our next trail ultra, not to mention run training.

The event had no medals, but instead you plant a tree. Every participant also had to pick up five pieces of rubbish, and raise AU$20 for the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (thanks Nina for donating the money!) As a textile artist I focused my efforts on textile rubbish.